By Anthony Reardon

When you think of growing your own food, you might picture long, intentionally arranged and sectioned beds of vegetables, towering tomato cages, rows of fruit trees and perhaps even a raised bed or two within a meticulously cordoned landscape. But there is a different approach.

Food forests, a sustainable, low-maintenance garden design, are increasingly popular with seniors. They offer accessible, low-impact outdoor exercise, edible plants and rewarding ways to engage with nature that benefit not only humans but also pollinators, wildlife, soil and the environment.

In a partnership between Johnson County K-State Extension volunteers and The Stu Shafer Open Petal Farm at Johnson County Community College, a food forest has been created. As Extension’s newest display area, the food forest supports the continuing mission of showcasing the latest in research-based horticulture to Johnson County residents.

As the first joint project between the Extension Master Gardener and Extension Master Naturalist programs, the Food Forest brings together volunteer groups under a shared vision of being good stewards of the environment, teaching that stewardship to others using best practices and generating extra food for the household.

Since the spring of 2025, volunteers have worked diligently to incorporate layers and groupings of plants together.

These areas are called “guilds,” and each part of the guild serves its own unique purpose. Together, these plant relationships mutually benefit each other, creating a hardier and long-lasting landscape.

Visitors to the food forest will see bioswale examples demonstrating how rainwater can be captured in basins and kept in the soil for future use. They will see home-garden demonstrations, with examples ranging from pollinator- friendly native plant areas to herb gardens, berrying shrubs, stone fruit and more. They will also get a sense of the less common foods that can be grown in northeastern Kansas, including pawpaw, gooseberry, elderberry, persimmon and aronia.

At their core, the objective of the food forest demonstration area is to show how these tasks can be easily achieved in a home landscape with just a little background knowledge.

Whether your interests lie in native landscapes, food production, environmental protection, sustainable gardening, wildlife preservation or more, the food forest offers concepts that can be brought home and replicated, even on a micro, easily achievable scale.

Community members interested in learning more are invited to explore the food forest during its public open house from 10 a.m. to noon. Thursday, Sept. 3, at JCCC, 12345 College Blvd., Overland Park. The event will display all of the hard work project volunteers have invested in making this Extension’s newest educational demonstration space.

Visitors will have access to tours, consultations with guild captains (the leads of each garden section) and the opportunity to learn more about the Extension Master Gardener and Extension Master Naturalist programs, as well as Stu Shafer’s Open Petal Farm. We hope to see you there!

Please RSVP to the Food Forest Open House at johnson.k-state.edu.

Anthony Reardon is the Horticulture Small Farms Agent at Johnson County K-State Extension.